Model Train Journal

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What have you gotten yourself into?

A very pleasant build. If you can build an Airfix, you can build any Intermountain kit.

One piece of advice. Put the roof on last. Two reasons for this. First, you can glue in weight once you finish the car, then close up the carbody. Second, you can drill the holes through for all the carbody fittings with microdrills and cement them from the inside with liquid solvent cement. That trick lets you be a little more generous with the solvent without risk of buggering the outside of the car, and makes for a much more solid joint. You'll find the end result much more robust.

These are great kits, and anyone who could build a plastic model kit in their youth can build these.

BTW, when you get to the trucks, call me. There is a trick to them thats easier to talk through than write out.

Exactly what I was going to say. Once you get into it, it's not nearly as intimidating as it looks in pieces. Extra weight and gluing from the inside is a must, as Sarge stated. I've seen a lot of these cars at swap meets that were glued from the outside and they just don't look good....hard not to get a blob of glue somewhere you don't want it, even with the steadiest hands.

Have fun!

BH

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The tip on drilling and glueing from the inside is awesome! Thank you!
I’ve got the trucks figured out as I tossed them back in the box and ordered a metal set from Wiseman.

The only thing I’m not happy with is instead of the car body being painted, it’s orange plastic. The sheen looks cheap. I hope Dullcote will improve it.

Rich, I’ll search for some metal replacements, thank you!

I don't know of anyone who makes metal direct replacements for grabs and stirrups, though a good truly scale kit for them would be a nice product. Gluing metal to the plastic body is fraught with its own dissimilar materials issues; unless a good mechanical joint there will be castings littered all over the right-of-way.

The three-railers whinged about it enough so Atlas did their versions in metal, and they are clunky and gross compared to the original Intermountain kits; I'll choose the latter every chance I get. Given the lack of a retrofit kit in, say, lost wax brass (which would be the ideal) the choice is increased strength at the expense of fidelity or being a little careful and having a better model. I personally go for the more delicate better model.

Properly assembled and cemented, the plastic bits weld in nicely and gain strength. If you are going to handle the dingus with some respect, the plastic ones are actually plenty strong enough to last. I never have broken them by handling it as a model, not a toy.

Chooch used to offer (maybe still do) a kit that replaced the delicate ABS parts (ladders, grabs, stirrups, etc) with a different type of plastic that was much more forgiving. I bought some many moons ago and they worked fine. Needed to match the paint but being boxcars it was easy.

Just looked and they offer some items although not the complete kit as they did once. If it's not a contest model, you might just want to be careful handing it, all these
replacement parts add up quickly.

http://www.choochenterprises.com/Oparts.html

BH

Butch, mate. I believe the stirrups et al are polystyrene (as is the whole kit), not ABS. They made the choice of keeping the materials the same as a plastic model airplane kit so everything actually assembled solidly.

Memory serves, ABS is a more robust and less glu-able material of which styrene is but a component.

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sarge wrote:Butch, mate. I believe the stirrups et al are polystyrene (as is the whole kit), not ABS. They made the choice of keeping the materials the same as a plastic model airplane kit so everything actually assembled solidly.

Memory serves, ABS is a more robust and less glu-able material of which styrene is but a component.

ABSolutely correct. My bad.

BH

E7 wrote:As far as gluing metal to plastic, P&D Hobby Shop has a pile of metal add-ons (as in grabs) for their F units. I don't know what they use to glue them on, but I'm sure Pat could tell you. I've seen metal parts out there, but haven't looked in a while, but PSC (I think Bill Davis acquired their parts), detail associates, P&D Hobby Shop would be some places to look.

Sure. CA after the styrene is softened with solvent, and even then the joint is often just as fragile as the plastic on the old bits. Thats why Atlas did them in white metal at a larger cross-section and fully mechanical pin-and-hole joints.

E7 wrote: As for the small plastic parts, put them on and see how they last......maybe i'm a clumsy oaf, but I still think they're effing trash.

I find they last just fine for me, and I will respect their fragility in order to have the finesse and fidelity.

E7 wrote: There must have been a reason Intermountain stopped making their line of cars?????

Yep. They overmanufactured for the marketplace that couldn't absorb thousands of, what, five prototypes? Atlas bought them and wound the fidelity clock back in the process of selling them to people who won't build anything. Meanwhile IM concentrated on making RTR for the HO crowd who can absorb thousands of many prototypes.

E7 wrote: once had an instructor who said: You're the kind of guy who could break an anvil! Maybe he was right!

In the words of Mr. T, and I don't mean the "A" team guy: OPINION

I won't hide behind "opinion". Grin!

The fact remains, if you want scale cross-sections in plastic models, you accept and respect some fragility for that fidelity. If we didn't, then cast-on grabs and six-scale-inch thick stirrups would still be the norm. Because of the inability of so many to accept that, they are the norm; look at Atlas Trainman. The HO guys would laugh those things off the planet. They manage their even finer details quite nicely and some of the latest N is exquisite. Yet in big ol' O we have to settle for forty-year-old thought because we can't handle a model? Might as well call it what it is, then and put a big ol' giraffe head bobbing up and down in the middle of the roof.

The reason Intermountain left was because we did it to ourselves. They, along with Red Caboose and San Juan, gave us beautiful styrene kits and we just beat them up over it. Funny, the Brits have no problem with building and handling them. Thus, they have over a hundred different prototypes available in styrene kit form in O Scale, all domestic made. Mainstream stuff there.

sarge wrote:Properly assembled and cemented, the plastic bits weld in nicely and gain strength. If you are going to handle the dingus with some respect, the plastic ones are actually plenty strong enough to last. I never have broken them by handling it as a model, not a toy.

Amen Sarge...that's the truth of it period.

Robert

I must be ham fisted. Half of my grabs brake while removing them and the other half flew across the room. I ended up buying a bag of bronze grabs. If you look into my Finally 2 rail post. You see what brand I bought. Also Sarge Walked my through building a set of I’m trucks.